Search - 2000

 
 
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2001

Scandal threatens the Mori Cabinet

An unfolding bribery scandal surrounding an insurance group for small business led to the resignation of Mr. Fukushiro Nukaga, state minister for economic and fiscal policy, on Tuesday. Just a week earlier, Mr. Takao Koyama, a Liberal Democratic member of the Upper House, was arrested on charges of receiving...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2001

Sales down for fourth year at supermarkets and stores

Sales at supermarkets and department stores fell for a fourth straight year in 2000, underlining depressed consumer spending, industry associations reported Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2001

The kindergartens are all right

Michiko Sonobe (not her real name) was nervous before an interview with authorities at a prestigious kindergarten in Yokohama as part of her 21/2-year-old son's entrance examination last November.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 18, 2001

Olympic hero Spitz still making waves at 50

LONDON -- Mark Spitz is widely regarded as the greatest Olympian of all time. The American swimmer captured seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games -- still the most ever by an athlete at one Olympics -- and broke world-record times in all seven events. Throw in the two golds, a silver and a bronze...
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2001

Daiichi Mutual administrators pull plug

The administrators of failed Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. on Wednesday said they have terminated an eight-month search for a white knight.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Europe's top luxury brands unfazed by recession

Despite the prolonged economic doldrums in Japan, top-brand handbags, jewelry and others items imported from Europe are selling quite well as manufacturers step up their offensive.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2001

New looks at an enduring alliance

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONS, edited by Gerald Curtis. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 302 pp., paper. JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE: New Challenges for the 21st Century, edited by Nishihara Masashi. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 191 pp., paper. It's...
COMMENTARY
Jan 15, 2001

Calling off all bets on Japan

Predictions can be dangerous when Japan is involved.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2001

Miyazawa, Jin worried over U.S. economic woes

KOBE -- Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and his counterparts from South Korea and Europe expressed concern Saturday that the slowing U.S. economy could deal a major blow to the economies of their respective regions, Japanese government officials said.
COMMUNITY
Jan 14, 2001

Turning gray offices into great places to work

Steven Louie, vice president and design director of Gensler Tokyo, is not only warm, open and charming; he's also sensitive, patient, and very very kind. This was illustrated by his treatment of the 16-year-old student from the U.K. (on a work experience program) who accompanied me, listening attentively...
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Wholesale prices increase for first time in three years

Domestic wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent in 2000 for the first hike in three years, mainly due to higher crude oil prices, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2001

Corolla tops in car sales for 32 years straight

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla was the best-selling car in Japan in 2000, maintaining its status as the nation's favorite passenger car for the 32nd straight year, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2001

Dentistry exam scandal widens

Police questioned an Osaka Dental University professor late last year over his involvement in leaking questions on the March 2000 National Dentistry Examination, investigative sources said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2001

Behind the quest for more babies

The continuing precipitous decline in Japan's birthrate -- in 1999 it was at the all-time low of 1.34 births per woman during her lifetime -- has long troubled planners in both the government and the private sector. Now Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has put himself at the center of the issue by calling...
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2001

Suntory director vows to make beer division profitable

Leading alcoholic beverage producer Suntory Ltd. on Tuesday pledged to make its beer production division profitable in 2001 for the first time in nearly four decades.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Deaths at sea up fifth year in a row

The number of people who died or went missing at sea in 2000 was 1,620, up from 1,601 in 1999, the fifth consecutive year of increase, according to information released by the Japan Coast Guard.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Diplomat stripped of post in embezzlement scandal

The Foreign Ministry on Saturday stripped a senior official of his post as director of a ministry division due to allegations that he has embezzled several hundred million yen in public funds since 1993, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Professors arrested over leaking of dentistry-test questions

Police on Saturday arrested Kenji Kusunoki, a former Ohu University professor, on suspicion of leaking questions on the March 2000 National Dentistry Examination to his students in violation of the Dental Practitioners Law, police said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2001

Road safety requires enforcement

Rational observers of the chaotic traffic conditions on Japan's crowded highways and busy urban areas long ago concluded that improvements were overdue. So the surprise yearend announcement by the National Police Agency that it is proposing stricter penalties for drunken driving, hit-and-run accidents,...
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

TSE starts year sour despite rise abroad

Despite the record surge in U.S. high-tech stocks overnight, the Tokyo Stock Exchange began 2001 on a lackluster note Thursday, with an initial rally fizzling out.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 5, 2001

Have Japanese novelists lost touch with readers?

The fading interest in reading among younger Japanese first caused alarm several years ago in Japan, but I was recently startled to see a full page devoted to the topic in The New York Times' Book Review section (Dec. 10).
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

Obara served fifth warrant for rape

Accused serial rapist Joji Obara was served a fifth arrest warrant Thursday on suspicion of drugging and raping a woman last January, police sources said.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 4, 2001

2001: A Sports Odyssey

Welcome to the first Sports Scope of the 21st century. By now you've probably read a zillion stories about the sporting year in review. Have no worries; this column looks toward the future. Here are 13 fearless predictions for the Year of the Snake. Wager at your own risk!
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2001

Let Aibo tell you about brand image

Ku-Ku the kitten was top cat in the battle of the robo-pets in 2000, but guess which bionic beast got to snuggle up to Janet Jackson?
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2001

Emperor encourages all to overcome difficulties

As the Imperial family prepared to mark the first New Year's Day of the 21st century at the Imperial Palace, the Emperor expressed hope that the Japanese people will pull together to deal with difficulties such as the economic slump and the aging society and create a better future for all.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 1, 2001

Much ado about nothing

In a fierce fit of free-market commercialism, ads in Moscow subway insist that the real new millennium will start today. With the economy weakened by crisis, revenues from the advent of Y2K were not as impressive as in the West, and now Russian boutiques, travel agencies and software stores are trying...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

A question of hegemony

An implicit alliance has emerged in Washington since the Cold War's end between avowedly "Wilsonian" liberals, anxious to extend American influence and federate the democracies, and unilateralist neoconservative believers in U.S. power projection, who call for American world leadership, aggressively...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Toward mutually assured peace

As we enter the 21st century, recent trends in technological development make the problems of nuclear weapons a pressing issue requiring greater attention and a more serious response.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2000

Economy still stuck in a rut

Looking back to 2000, the critical question hanging over the Japanese economy is: Has there been movement, or at least the preparations for a move, toward a new system befitting the start of a new century? The answer, unfortunately, is no.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?